NYPD Takes Gun and Badge From Officer Investigated for Chokehold

Esaw Garner, the wife of Eric Garner, cries in the arms of Rev. Al Sharpton at a rally Saturday. Rev. Herbert Daughtry is at left.

AP

UPDATED | The New York Police Department said Saturday it took away the gun and badge of Officer Daniel Pantaleo as the department and prosecutors investigate his use of an apparent chokehold on a Staten Island man who later died.

On Friday, Police Commissioner William Bratton said two officers involved in the incident were placed on desk duty pending the outcome of the investigation. NYPD’s announcement on Saturday identified Mr. Pantaleo and said he was placed on modified assignment–meaning his gun and badge were taken.

Patrick Lynch, the president of the PBA, the union that represents police officers, said the NYPD’s decision regarding Mr. Pantaleo was “absolutely wrong.”

“The department’s modification of this police officer under these circumstances is a completely unwarranted, kneejerk reaction for political reasons and nothing more. It is a decision by the department that effectively pre-judges this case and denies the officer the very benefit of a doubt that has long been part of the social contract that allows police officers to face the risks of this difficult and complex job,” Mr. Lynch said.

It will be up to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner to determine if the chokehold played a role in Eric Garner’s death. An autopsy was conducted Friday and more tests were needed, which could take several weeks.

Eric Garner in an undated family photo.

AP

Earlier Saturday, Rev. Al Sharpton called the death of Mr. Garner, who complained of not being able to breathe while being subdued by the officer with the apparent chokehold, a “real test” of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s pledge to bridge the gap between police and minority communities.

With the family of Eric Garner at his side, Mr. Sharpton said the investigation into the 43-year-old man’s death will determine how much progress Mr. de Blasio and Police Commissioner William Bratton have made nearly seven months into the administration.

“This is going to be a real test to see what our policies are in the city now,” Mr. Sharpton said during his weekly address at the East Harlem headquarters of his National Action Network, ”and whether the change that we feel has occurred, has occurred.”

“There is no justification at all on this chokehold,” he added.

Family members have said Mr. Garner has a history of severe asthma problems and other ailments, and keeps an inhaler on him at all times.

The investigation is being led by Staten Island District Attorney Daniel Donovan, who will determine if the actions by the officers were criminal. The NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau is assisting prosecutors and will determine if the officers actions violated department policy.

A number of city officials and community leaders, including City Councilwoman Vanessa Gibson, the head of the public safety committee, which oversees the NYPD, joined Mr. Sharpton on stage.

Mr. de Blasio, who had postponed a vacation to Italy by a day to tend to the crisis, was not in attendance but sent Marco Carrion, his commissioner of community affairs, on his behalf. In a brief address Mr. Carrion vowed “we will get the answers.”

A spokeswoman for Mayor de Blasio said he called Mr. Garner’s wife and mother Saturday morning to offer his condolences. “During their conversation, he reassured the family that the city is doing everything possible to ensure a full and thorough investigation,” the spokeswoman said.

Mr. Garner died Thursday about an hour after an altercation with police after he was stopped for selling individual, untaxed cigarettes, a crime authorities said he has been arrested for several times in the past. Scrutiny of incident grew after a video recorded by a witness surfaced on the New York Daily News website.

During the incident, which occurred near a high-crime park in the Tompkinsville neighborhood, a plainclothes police officer who had been questioning the 6-foot-3, 350 pound Mr. Garner, put him in a chokehold to subdue him.

During the altercation, Mr. Garner can be heard repeatedly saying “I can’t breathe.”

The NYPD outlawed the use of chokeholds in 1993. Mr. Bratton on Friday said that from what he saw in the video, the officer appeared to violate NYPD guidelines. He added that he didn’t believe chokeholds were part of a larger problem among police officers.

On Saturday, Richard Emery, the Chair of the Civilian Complaint Review Board, an independent agency that investigates allegations of police abuse, said the CCRB has begun a study of the chokehold complaints it has received from 2009 to the first six months of 2014.

“The CCRB is in the unique position of being able to look at the chokehold complaints it has received to attempt to discern why officers continue to use this forbidden practice,” said Mr. Emery.

The CCRB received 1022 chokehold allegations from 2009 to 2013. Of those, 462 were fully investigated and the CCRB determined that a chokehold was used in nine of those cases. In 206 of the cases the CCRB found there was not enough evidence to make a determination if the chokehold was used.

“We’re going to make this chokehold study an agency priority,” said CCRB Executive Director Tracy Catapano-Fox.

Mr. Bratton said the question for prosecutors and NYPD investigators is to determine if their response to Mr. Garner’s resistance to being arrested was lawful.

The mayor and police commissioner have both called Mr. Garner’s death a tragedy and have promised a thorough investigation and have called for patience and calm as investigators go about their work, which could take months.

Mr. Bratton visited the scene of the incident on Friday and reached out to community and civil rights leaders in the wake of Mr. Garner’s death.

“I talked to the mayor and the police commissioner and we are not going to stop until we can get justice for this man,” Mr. Sharpton said.Mr. Garner’s wife joined Mr. Sharpton but had to be escorted off the stage after she broke down in tears.

Mr. Sharpton said he planned to keep pressure on the administration Saturday afternoon at a rally in Staten Island.

Police have said Mr. Garner has a criminal history dating back to the 1980s and was operating in a high-crime neighborhood in which police have received hundreds of complaints from residents and merchants so far this year.

Mr. Sharpton called his criminal past a distraction.

“They want to try and distract us,” he said. “They’ll try and scandalize the deceased. They’re gonna try to come with all kinds of stuff with his family.”

A funeral for Mr. Garner, a father of six, will be will be held Wednesday evening in Brooklyn, and paid for by the National Action Network.